"The whole idea behind this product is that it's proactive," says John Amein, vice president of product management at Aspect Software. "And to be proactive, you need to know something that the customer doesn't, and then you need a way to communicate that information to him. This makes it all very easy to do."

Applications currently offered in the Proactive Engagement suite include the following:

Aspect Collect: An automated debt collection application that can be fully integrated with existing systems, such as risk engines.

Aspect Survey: A multichannel and personalized survey solution to better understand consumer sentiment and follow up as considered necessary.

Amein calls the Proactive Engagement Suite a "platform with apps," which means that Aspect and its partners will be able to create additional applications suited to specific verticals as time goes on and needs dictate.

Aspect Proactive Engagement currently supports text messaging, voice calls, and email and allows customers to select the channels on which they would like to be contacted, respond in the channels of their choice, and even switch between channels as part of one seamless interaction.

"It works completely across channels," Amein says.

The suite, he adds, is "very suitable for regular communications, but also for the spikes you might have when reaching out to customers."

The Proactive Engagement Suite also integrates with Aspect's Interaction Management, allowing businesses to complement their agent-based outbound campaigns with a fully automated solution. Customers can choose to be transferred to a live agent during or after an automated interaction.

Because the suite is a pure cloud solution and based on preconfigured templates, Amein says it offers a lower cost of deployment, quicker time-to-value, and flexibility in scaling up or down as business needs change. "They can move it in fast, and because it's a pay-per-use [solution], you do not need to buy a lot of equipment or pay upfront," he says.

The suite, which was made possible through technology that Aspect gained when it acquired Voxeo in July for $150 million, was previously only available in select markets. According to Amein, it was developed in the United Kingdom and has been running successfully there for years, and is now being fielded to other parts of the world, starting with the United States.